Shared Flashcard Set

Details

Module 3.1.2 Social Change
Social Change and Evolution
18
Sociology
Undergraduate 3
10/12/2015

Additional Sociology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Mode of production
Definition
The technology and the practices employed for expanding or limiting basic subsistence production, especially the production of food and other forms of energy.
Term
Science
Definition
The application of systematic methods of observation and careful logical analysis.
Term
Adaptation
Definition
The ability of a sociocultural system to change with the demands of a changing physical or social environment.
Term
Centralization
Definition
Power and authority concentrated into a few offices.
Term
Elite
Definition
Men and women who occupy the highest positions of the dominant institutions of a society and who consequently hold enormous power.
Term
Structure
Definition
In sociology, all human institutions, groups, and organizations.
Term
Bureaucratization
Definition
The tendency of bureaucracies to refine their procedures to attain their goals ever more efficiently.
Term
Zweckrational
Definition
Rational action in relation to a goal; one of Weber’s four action types.
Term
Exponential growth
Definition
A geometric rate of progression that has the potential of producing a very fast rise (or an "explosion") in the numbers of a population experiencing such growth.
Term
Innovation
Definition
The introduction of a new technology, product, or technique into a sociocultural system.
Term
Modernity
Definition
The state of being modern, usually associated with industrial and hyperindustrial societies.
Term
Socialism
Definition
An economic system in which the means of production and distribution of goods and services are publicly owned.
Term
Malthusianism
Definition
Thomas Robert Malthus's theory of population dynamics, according to which population increase inevitably comes up against the “natural limits” of food supply because population grows geometrically (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, . . .) while food supply grows arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . . .).
Term
Stratification
Definition
Structured inequalities in life chances between groups in society.
Term
Social Forces
Definition
The elements of society and social organizations that exert an influence on individual human behaviour.
Term
Age-sex structure
Definition
The relative proportions of different age-sex categories in a population.
Term
Market economy
Definition
An economy in which decisions regarding investment, production, price, and distribution are based on supply and demand.
Term
Social evolution
Definition
Theories of cumulative sociocultural change which generally hold that human societies move from simple to complex forms of organization.
Supporting users have an ad free experience!